


Chained to You

by Whilhelmina_Prince



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M, tropetastictuesday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 02:04:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10233221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whilhelmina_Prince/pseuds/Whilhelmina_Prince
Summary: Rhett and Link stumble upon a pair of handcuffs





	

**Author's Note:**

> written for TropeTasticTuesday

Link sneezed.

“Why’d we volunteer to do this again?” he asked Rhett grumpily as he looked around for a tissue.

Rhett shrugged. “It was your idea.” 

“Right.” 

For as spacious as the studio was, they had accumulated far too much over the years, and the storage area was in terrible need of a good clear out. Stevie had assigned the job to the junior staff, but Link had immediately vetoed the idea. It wasn’t just stuff in there; it was their memories. He didn’t want the staff mistaking a precious token for mere junk.

So this Thursday evening, usually spent working late into the night and crashing in the nap loft until morning, they sent the staff home, ordered pizza, and began the journey into their past.

It turned out, the past was a dusty place. 

After blowing his nose, Link knelt, returning to Rhett’s side, and got back to digging through boxes. 

“Huh,” Link said, pulling an item from a box. “I don’t remember ever using these.”

Rhett glanced over at the pair of handcuffs dangling from Link’s hand. “Me neither,” he said, taking the cold metal rings. His eyes gleamed. “But now we will!” he said, deftly clapping one of the rings onto Link’s wrist. 

“What are you doing?” Link shrieked, but the question was barely out of his mouth before Rhett had shackled his right wrist to Link’s left. 

Link looked down in horror and then back up to Rhett’s grinn. “Dude … I don’t have the key.”

Rhett scoffed. “They’re prop cuffs. They just pop open.” But as he fiddled with the cuffs, his face fell. “Oh crap, man. These are real.”

“I coulda told you that,” Link mumbled. “I can’t believe you did that. Usually it’s me doing the dumb shit.”

Rhett said nothing, his eyes big.

Link folded his legs under him and sat. “I hope you have a solution to this.”

Rhett joined him on the floor. “I guess we could call the police.”

“No,” Link retorted vehemently. “Absolutely not. We do that and I guarantee it’ll end up on the internet.”

“Locksmith?”

Link sighed. “Same problem.”

“Listen,” Rhett said softly, the fingers of his right hand brushing Link’s. “We have all night to figure something out. There’s no rush.”

“And in the meantime, we’re stuck like this.” Link’s tone was harsh. He sighed again and crossed his arms, yanking Rhett’s hand with him. Rhett’s body crashed into Link’s side. “Ow!”

“I’m sorry!” Rhett said. “But that wasn’t my fault!”

“Ugh, this is going to be awful.” Link ran his hands through his hair. Rhett’s right arm dangled limply. 

“Why don’t we keep looking?” Rhett suggested. “The key is likely to be in the same box as the cuffs.”

Link snorted. “The way this place looks, I’d be surprised if it’s here at all. It’s a disaster in here.”

“We have to try though.”

Link didn’t reply, but set the box in which he’d found the cuffs between them. They started pawing through the contents, though Link was much more concerned with finding the key than with examining the treasures within.

“Hey, Link? Remember this?”

The object was fuzzy in Link’s peripheral vision. He didn’t look. 

“Link?”

But he kept his eyes cast downward, into the box, into their past.

“Bo, are you going to talk to me?”

Link stood, sharply yanking Rhett up with him. Rhett stumbled, but kept his footing. Link growled in frustration.

“Seriously, Link, you need to talk to me,” Rhett started, but Link turned his back. “This isn’t about these stupid handcuffs. Something’s been bugging you for weeks, and you won’t talk to me about it. All I get is this cold shoulder.”

He tried to touch Link’s shoulder, but with their hands chained together, he couldn’t. 

“I just want to know what’s wrong.”

Link’s shoulders drooped, but he didn’t turn to face his friend. “I’m tired, man. Can we take a break?”

“We got beer in the office. You want one?”

Link shook his head. “I want to take a nap. I know that’s weird, but …”

“It’s fine,” Rhett interrupted. “Whatever you need.”

They made their way back to the office and into the loft silently. Link kicked off his shoes and Rhett followed suit. Link eyed the huge custom futon mattress on their floor but made no moves to lay down. 

“Link? Can you just talk to me?”

Link faced his friend, staring up into his ever-changing green eyes. The eyes that had been with him all this time. The eyes that now caused him pain. 

“I don’t know if I can.”

Rhett’s head tilted and his eyebrows went soft. “Link, it’s me. You can tell me anything.”

“Not this.”

“Yes, this! Whatever ‘this’ is!”

“No, Rhett, I can’t.” Anger rose in his voice.

“Please, Link. I’m your best friend. Who else could you …?”

Without warning, Link reached for Rhett, pulling him down, and brought their lips together. It was a hard kiss, full of guilt, shame, and need.

Link pulled away.

“You still sure you wanted to hear it?”

But Rhett’s eyes were full of tears. 

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?”

And then it was Rhett who overpowered Link, kissing him deeply, wiping away the shame, tearing down the guilt. 

Link pressed Rhett to the wall, leaving a trail of kisses on his neck, while Rhett’s strong hands found Link’s slim waist. But they both needed more.

They were clumsy. They had to tear their shirts to remove them, and Link nearly fell at least twice getting his pants off. But at last they found themselves on the mattress, naked in both body and mind. 

Their hands, still chained, worked in unison, taking them both to a state of delirium they had never known before. Link moaned his pleasure into Rhett’s chest. Rhett left claw marks on Link’s shoulders. 

In the afterglow, unable to find any other comfortable way to arrange themselves, they laid down face to face, their cuffed hands clasped. Link’s eyes were nearly closed in a sleepy ecstasy when Rhett spoke.

“Link?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I should tell you.”

Link’s eyes flew open. This is what he had feared all along. Not that Rhett would deny him, but that he would say yes, and then break his heart.

“Don’t say it, Rhett. Don’t say you can’t do this. Don’t say we can’t be together.” Tears formed in his eyes.

“No, god no, Link.” He kissed away the tears, and then pressed his lips to Link’s forehead. “Do you really think I would let this happen if I was going to abandon you?”

Link didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Rhett knew his fears. Rhett knew his heart. It wasn’t about doubting Rhett; he simply doubted himself.

“What were you going to tell me?”

Rhett bit his lip. “Listen, you can’t get mad at me.”

Link raised an eyebrow, but made no promises. 

“I, uh, I have the key.”

“You found it?”

“Not exactly.”

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?”

Rhett looked past Link. “Look, I knew something was up with you, and I didn’t know how to get you to talk to me. Every time I try, you walk away or you find something important you have to do. So I figured … maybe I’d find a way to make it so you couldn’t get away.”

“So what, you found the key and hid it?”

Rhett finally met Link’s eyes. “I planted the cuffs for you to find. The key is in my jeans pocket. Has been the whole time. Please don’t be angry, Link. I just wanted you to have to talk to me.”

Link smiled softly, the sleepy looking coming back to his eyes. “I’m not mad, bo.”

“You’re not?”

“Uh-uh. I mean, I guess I should be. But the truth is that I might not have told you otherwise. This time, I couldn’t run from it.”

“And … are you glad you didn’t run this time?”

Link smiled and pressed a sweet kiss to Rhett’s lips. “I’ve never been happier.”

“You want me to go get the key?”

Link gazed down at their hands, fingers intertwined, wrists locked together. All at once, he feared that once that lock was opened, one or both of them would run. But one look at Rhett’s face told him that wouldn’t happen.

But still …

“No. Just stay here with me.”

And so they slept, hands clasped, naked, open, and free, until morning.


End file.
